Undermount drawer slides are a type of hidden slide rails. Typically, an undermount drawer slide is mounted on the bottom of a drawer so that, when the drawer is pulled out with respect to a frame (e.g., a cabinet), the undermount drawer slide stays hidden at the bottom of the drawer and is not exposed to view. Such an undermount drawer slide generally has an L-shaped bracket and a slide rail. The bracket is mounted on a wall surface of a cabinet, and the slide rail is arranged on the bracket and longitudinally slidable relative to the rail on the bracket. A drawer mounted on the slide rail can be pulled out with respect to the cabinet or pushed back into the cabinet via the slide rail.
However, due to minor errors in the mounting process or some external factors, the connecting device of the drawer may have problem being mounted to the slide rail.
To solve this problem, US Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0292465 A1, titled “Coupling device having side adjustment for a drawer”, discloses a coupling device configured for a drawer and featuring transverse adjustability. The coupling device (5) serves mainly to detachably couple a drawer to an extendable rail. The relationship between the spiral disk (15) of the adjusting wheel (8) of the coupling device (5) and the tooth-shaped holding elements (21) of a mounting plate (16) is such that, when the adjusting wheel (8) is adjusted, the latching portion (10) of the coupling device (5) is driven, allowing abutment surfaces (10a, 10b, 10c) of the latching portion (10) to be adjusted in position relative to the carcass rail (3c) of an extension guide (3). In other words, the drawer (2) is transversely adjustable in position relative to the carcass rail (3c) of the extension guide (3) to eliminate minor mounting errors between the drawer and the carcass rail.
In addition, US Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0319548 A1, titled “Pull-out guide for a drawer”, discloses in paragraph [0081], FIG. 2b, and FIG. 4 of its specification a holding element (5) mounted at the rear end of the extension rail (3a) of an extension guide (3). The holding element (5) has a holding nose (15) mounted in a bore of a drawer rear wall (2d). According to paragraphs [0082, 0083] and FIG. 5a of the specification, when a pivotal movement of an adjusting lever (18) is transmitted to lateral abutment surfaces of the holding element (5), a connecting element (7) and the holding nose (15) are displaced along a pair of guide bars (14). Therefore, the holding nose (15) of the extension rail (3a) can be adjusted in position relative to the drawer (2) in a transverse direction to eliminate mounting errors, which if existing may hinder installation of the drawer (2) on the holding nose (15) of the extension rail (3a). However, the numerous components of the holding element (5)—namely an adjustment device (11), a support element (17), a holding portion (19), and guide pins (14), in addition to the adjustment lever (18), the connecting element (7), and the holding nose (15) of the connecting element (7)—are to the disadvantage of the overall production cost and manufacturing process; in other words, the holding element (5) still leaves room for improvement.